Our brain has an amazing ability to visualize and create mental pictures. Many years ago, Alex Morrison, a golf teacher, created a strategy, a technique, in which we can use visualization to learn any skill.
There are three steps in this process.
1.
Understanding the physical details and mechanics
of the skill.
2.
Creating mental pictures of these details and
processes.
3.
Connect the mental pictures with physical sensations.
By applying this process, we can learn a skill more
effectively rather than just practicing it physically. This technique,
basically, creates a mind-body connection that embeds the skill deeper into our
chemistry.
It is an add-on of the physical practice, because there is
no alternative to physical practice. You cannot sit back and think about
exercise. You can learn to exercise better through mental pictures.
This is called “Morrison System of Mental Pictures.”
It is based on two facts.
First, the brain cannot distinguish between real physical
experience and imaginary mental one.
Second, humans cannot successfully execute a complex action
without first projecting a clear picture of it in the brain.
In storytelling, we can apply the same steps to write better
stories. First, visualize the beginning and the end of the story. We can then
visualize how a character or multiple characters traverse this pathway between
the beginning and the end. We can map out this pathway with micro-arcs, and
emotional movements.
Lastly, we can connect these actions with physical
sensations. For instance, I want to write about a room which is messy. Now, I
cannot really imagine a messy room. But I can visualize coffee spilling from a
cup, papers splattered on the floor, and dirt-covered walls. This also helps us
write more vivid descriptions in the story and make it even more emotionally
intense and raw.
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